Tie it closed with a piece of string to keep ripening seeds from falling out. They’ll look flat and a bit shrunken because they need more time to plump up.Ĭover the sunflower head with a brown paper bag to protect the seeds from birds. Although the seeds may actually be mature before that time, the flower heads are still moist and need time to dry out prior to harvest. They are ready to harvest when the back sides of the heads are yellow and start turning brown. Monitor the flower heads on your sunflowers daily when they begin to wilt. How do you know when your sunflower seed heads are ready to remove from the stalk? These instructions from SFGate explain that and more:
Above, Random Radz removes the seeds from a giant purple sunflower in under two minutes.īelow, a shorter but more calming video: Saving Sunflower Seeds, filmed by Growing In The Garden.
How do you harvest sunflower seeds from a sunflower? These how-to videos make it look simple and super satisfying, from removing its small flowers to drying it and popping out the seeds.
